Posted on 06/23/2006 11:55:27 AM PDT by jamesm113
NUREMBERG, Germany - They fell behind. They complained about the referees. They scored only one goal.
That's what the U.S. men's soccer team did here in Thursday's 2-1 loss to Ghana, and that's what the Americans accomplished in a winless World Cup.
The team that reached the quarterfinals four years ago and entered this tournament ranked fifth showed it isn't one of the world's top five or eight teams.
"We've got a long way to go to be consistently competitive with the best teams in the world. We know that," said Sunil Gulati, president of U.S. Soccer. "We can play with anybody on a given day, but I don't think anybody on our end would say we'd hold our own seven out of 10 times against Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Holland, Italy or France."
Holding their own against 48th-ranked Ghana would have been good enough. All the United States needed to reach the round of 16 was for Italy to beat the Czech Republic and for the U.S. team to beat Ghana. Italy did its part. The U.S. didn't.
"We were in a very, very good position to get through, and we just didn't take advantage of it," U.S. midfielder Landon Donovan said.
The Americans never led any of their games and finished the tournament 0-2-1. They trailed for all but five minutes of their 3-0 opening-game loss to the Czechs and after 22 minutes of their other two games. An own goal gave them a tie against Italy; Clint Dempsey's goal in the 43rd minute pulled them into a tie against Ghana.
But a controversial penalty kick four minutes later put Ghana back on top. German referee Markus Merk awarded the penalty after 6-foot-4, 201-pound Oguchi Onyewu went up for a header against Ghana's 5-8, 159-pound Razak Pimpong, and Pimpong seemed to bounce off him.
U.S. players were outraged. Goalkeeper Kasey Keller gave Merk an earful as they came off the field at halftime. The complaints continued after the game.
"In 100 years that's not a penalty," Donovan said.
Stephen Appiah converted the penalty into a 2-1 Ghana lead. The Americans went from having momentum to having to score twice against a team that could afford to sit back and play defense. U.S. coach Bruce Arena said that made all the difference.
"We'd all agree it wasn't a good call," Arena said. "To be positioned to have to chase the game on that call was kind of remarkable for a game at this level. It's tough, a tough one to deal with. I would have liked to have had a real good chance in the second half to win that game."
They played the second half without captain Claudio Reyna, who sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee on the play that led to Ghana's first goal. Reyna was looking away when Haminu Draman came at him from the side. Their knees clashed, and Draman came away with the ball and a breakaway shot he put past Keller. Reyna, in obvious, pain, pounded the ground with his arm as yards away Ghanaian players kissed the ground in celebration.
Ghana, playing in its first World Cup, advances to play Brazil on Tuesday.
"This is a historic moment for all Ghanaians, for the players and for myself," Ghana coach Ratomir Dujkovic said. "I am proud to make 20 million Ghanaians happy."
"Now, we are representing Ghana and Africa," Ghana captain Stephen Appiah said.
The U.S., meanwhile, is left to ponder what went wrong.
"I think we got someone angry somewhere, and our karma is coming back," Donovan said. "In 2002, everything seemed to go right, to go our way. Everything didn't go our way here."
It's Bush's fault.
one bad call vs one goal hardly is an argument; we don't have the foundation for a great soccer team. Why is tea better than the US Soccer team? It stays in the cup longer.
"I think we got someone angry somewhere, and our karma is coming back," Donovan said. "In 2002, everything seemed to go right, to go our way. Everything didn't go our way here."
That is a pretty passive statement. Maybe the team just didn't play very well, and karma had nothing to do with it.
>>Americans are sore losers (Soccer)<<
I'd have to care before I could be a sore loser.
Did terrorists attack? Is the world cup traded on the NY stock exchange? Until one of thsoe two things happens, I have no interest.
Sore losers? Aw, it's a stupid game anyways.
In more relevant sports news:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Albd2EiWfMVk7sfOnQflaxO8vLYF?slug=ap-nbafinals-heatcelebrate&prov=ap&type=lgns
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=Ale.RmvW62yJsd3jwt53vON7vLYF?slug=ap-hurricanescelebrate&prov=ap&type=lgns
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/preview;_ylt=AvNkmqSFdZVqfuK_jQRUixcRvLYF?gid=260623104
Five or eight? More like fifty or eighty.
The good news is the few of us care. ....and that fact alone drives the soccer-mad world mad.
Incomplete headline.
4 shots on goal in three games...4
excitement!
The longer you think about that, the less sense it makes. Really bad tea would stay in the cup forever.
It is a fact, however, that one goal could not make a difference in this match.
One bad call?...I saw quite a few bad calls.
Its probably for the better that were out...you think the world hates us now, let us win the world cup and that hatred will grow 10 fold.
"I'd have to care before I could be a sore loser."
My sentiment exactly.
I posted the same headline that was in the paper copy of the newspaper.
To improve the team: Like every other sport, recruit talent, practice practice practice, and get a good coach.
Its a joke.
Men bouncing balls of their heads: that's really gay.
Those refs were definitely biased against us! It wasn't fair! If I was over there I would riot in the streets!...That said, I didn't even know until this week that we even had a US soccer team. What is soccer again? Is that where all the soccer moms are?
of=off
Even jokes benefit from making sense.
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